LeRoy's List
Mervyn LeRoy's list of thank you's provides a useful roster of the people who worked on the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz.John Fricke, Jay Scarfone, and William Stillman, The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History, Warner Books, 1989; p. 146. The list in question was published among the promotional materials that preceded and accompanied the release of the movie in 1939. It appeared as an advertisement in both the Hollywood Reporter and the Daily Variety, the two main trade periodicals of the movie industry. Films of the 1930s provided only limited credits of those who worked on the films — unlike modern movies, for which the end credits provide extensive and exhaustive lists of the individuals, organizations, businesses, even catering firms involved. Mervyn LeRoy, the Oz film's producer, covered some of that gap in accreditation with his list of thanks. The list begins with a note in italic print: :It is not very often that the people who help make great pictures get great credit, so here goes, and thanks to all the Wizards who made The Wizard of Oz possible. The subsequent list begins with a "Thank You" to director Victor Fleming, his name in large print; and then proceeds to these names: * Adrian * Arthur Apell * Harold Arlen * Pop Arnold * John Arnold * George Bassman * Chris Bergswich * Margaret Booth * Malcolm Brown * A. W. Brown * Gavin Burns * Ulrich Busch * William Cannon * George Cave * Charles Chic * Sammy Cohen * Bobby Connolly * Joe Cook * Ken Darby * Alan Davey * Jack Dawn * Frances Edwards * Harry Edwards * Nat Finston * Arthur Freed * Chips Gaither * Cedric Gibbons * Buddy Gillespie * Ernie Grooney * Yip Harburg * Tom Held * Jane Harrison * Bill Horning * Henri Jaffa * Sam Kress * Noel Langley * Beth Langston * John Lee Mahin * Donna Mason * Betty Masure * Norbert Miles * Warren Newcombe * Ray O'Brien * Sheila O'Brien * Webb Overlander * W. E. Pohl * Barron Polan * Roy Raymsey * Gerald F. Rocket * Jack Rohan * Hal Rosson * Florence Ryerson * Charles Schram * Blanche Sewell * Douglas Shearer * Al Shenberg * Lee Stanfield * George Stoll * Herbert Stothart * Keith Weeks * Edwin B. Willis * Edgar Allan Woolf * Wallace Worsley. The advertisement continues, : P.S. And thanks to the never tiring exploitation heads: * Howard Strickling * Howard Dietz * Frank Whitbeck * Si Seadler * Andy Hervey. The ad concludes with a second thank-you to Freed: "You know how grateful I am." Even as it is, the list is not complete: the other directors who worked on the film, for example — including King Vidor, who shot a significant portion of it — are not mentioned. And other MGM personnel who made significant contributions, like Max Fabian and Jack Martin Smith, also were left off. References Category:MGM Personnel